Our series will help you make the most of the world's greatest train journeys.
This week: the Bergen Line, the highest mainline railway in northern Europe.

Few European railways traverse such desolate mountain terrain as the 310-mile (500km) line linking Norway’s capital with its principal port and second city. It is the highest mainline railway in northern Europe, reaching the Hardangervidda plateau (pictured below) at 4,060ft, and for nearly 60 miles it is above the tree line, in terrain with few signs of human life.

It was also one of the most difficult railways to build – 12 routes were surveyed before one was chosen. There were few roads for supplies; deep snow and freezing temperatures for months on end reduced productive days; and 11¼ miles of tunnel had to be bored, mostly through solid gneiss. The line opened in sections from 1883, one of the opening trains becoming embedded in snow, but the first scheduled train for Bergen did not leave Oslo until 1908.

It has become a popular journey for tourists, not only for the main line but also to gain access to the one branch line – to Flåm (see Highlight). Snow is a feature almost throughout the year, because the average snowline in Norway is at about 3,000ft, compared with 7,000ft in Switzerland.

The train departs from Oslo S (Oslo Central) station (below) in a long tunnel under the city, emerging to offer views over the Dramsfjord and its islands. Skirting the large lake of Tyrifjorden, it arrives at the junction of Hønefoss and the start of the Bergen line.

The farms among the hills thin out before a tunnel that brings the railway on to a shelf of rock high above Lake Krøderen, followed after Flåm by a dramatic stretch above the forested Hallingdalselva River. Past Ål, the frequent river crossings are marked by a metallic roar as the train crosses a bridge in its climb through the beautiful Hallingdal Valley towards Norway’s best-known winter sports centre, Geilo, boasting 39 downhill slopes and nearly 350 miles of cross-country trails.

During the many months of snow, the trains are full of skiers and their gear. Holiday cabins dot the hills as the train leaves the last trees behind and heads for the north shore of Lake Ustevatn, which can be frozen for three quarters of the year. The train burrows through the first of many snowsheds, vital to keep the line open year-round but an irritation when you are enjoying the view.

The handsome wooden station building at Haugastøl (below), in a cross between the National Romantic and Jugendstil styles, is the start of hiking routes through the shallow valleys of the high plateau and the beginning of the Rallar Road, named after the navvies who used it during construction of the railway. Now regarded as a historic monument, it’s much used by mountain bikers; some even take advantage of the altitude to freewheel all the way to the sea at Bergen. Bikes can be hired at Haugastøl and also at Finse.

The course of the railway is surprisingly straight across the plateau, enabling a turn of speed that whips up the snow into eddying wraiths. There are few places as bleak and remote on a railway in Europe as roadless Finse, the highest station on Norway’s railways, at just over 4,000ft. The men on Scott’s fateful 1912 expedition trained here, and in 1979 George Lucas used the area for the ice planet Hoth in Star Wars. Near the station is a museum about the navvies, and there is a single, lonely hotel with its own bakery.

Teams of straining huskies may be spotted carving a trail as the summit of the line is reached at Taugevann, at 4,270ft. The unstaffed station at Hallingskeid station is actually inside a snow shelter. As a taster for those breaking the journey to to descend to Flåm, there are glimpses 2,000ft down a precipice into Flåmsdal and Sognefjord. Isolated in a great bowl of mountains, the junction station of Myrdal oscillates between utter quiet and manic activity as passengers from a cruise ship reach the summit of the climb from Flåm (see Highlights) and flock into the large café and gift shop.

The railway returns to the tree line and descends steeply through Mjølfjell station and a scattering of holiday cabins to pick its way along a ledge high above the River Raundal as it flows through a spectacular canyon. Upland farming country provides a striking contrast to the barren plateau as the train arrives at the large town and ski resort of Voss. It was here that King Haakon VII at the formal opening of the line in 1909, described it as “the greatest feat of our generation”.

After skirting a lake, the railway climbs alongside the River Vossa, periodically crossed by pedestrian suspension bridges, and through a long tunnel to Dale station. Reaching sea level, it runs along a foreshore where boat houses reach into clear water. Occasional headlands are occupied by birch-sheltered wooden cabins painted in the distinctive dark ox-blood common to much of Norway. Conifers find a root-hold in the most inhospitable of crags on the cliffs rising above the fjords as the line clings to a ledge on the lower cliff face.

The train dives into the Ulriken Tunnel to terminate under the great train shed roof at Bergen, fronted by an imposing 1913-built station building in dark stone. A light-rail line links the station with the city centre (direction Byparken Terminal). The colourful waterside area of Bergen known as Bryggen was made a World Heritage Site in 1979 for the largely wooden buildings that line the quayside, though only a quarter date from before the last big fire in 1702. On clear days it’s worth taking the Fløibanen from the city centre to Fløyen or the Ulriksbanen cablecar for panoramic views over the city and coastline.

Edvard Grieg’s house at Troldhaugen is now a museum, with shop, café and concert hall, and can be reached by tram to Hop and a signed walk of about 20 minutes. Nearby is the extraordinary wooden Fantoft Stave Church originally built in 1150 and moved to its present site in 1883. Bergen also has an impressive open-air museum of 50 wooden houses, at Old Bergen Museum.

Highlights

The branch line from the junction of Myrdal to Flåm (below) is one of the world’s most extraordinary railways and has become the third most visited tourist attraction in Norway, so it is well worth incorporating into the journey. Though only 12½ miles long, it descends 2,380ft at gradients so steep that the some locomotives were fitted with four brake systems.

It is the steepest standard-gauge railway in Europe, and has 20 tunnels as well as snow shelters. The views over Sognefjord, Norway’s deepest and longest fjord at 125 miles, are spectacular as the train gingerly twists down the mountainside.

Booking

To book in Britain contact Rail Europe (0844 848 4070; raileurope.co.uk). Tickets can also be bought online from Norwegian Railways (nsb.no; telephone line in case of problems: 0047 23 62 00 00; press 9 for English).

In NSB Komfort aboard the air-conditioned electric trains, you have a reserved seat, table with power point and complimentary coffee and tea. There is a café coach serving hot dishes, salads, snacks, pastries and drinks, and also a family coach with a separate playroom, children’s films and books. NSB Sove is sleeping accommodation for overnight journeys in twin-berth compartments.

What to pack

Chemical hand warmers if venturing off the train, sunglasses.

What to read

The importance of the Norwegian novelist Knut Hamsun lies more in his stylistic for Literature in 1920, Growth of the Soil, is imbued with the Norwegian landscape.

Among contemporary Norwegian crime writers, Jo Nesbø is probably the best known in Britain; his 2007 novel The Snowman links Oslo and Bergen through the characters of the detectives Harry Hole and Katrine Bratt.

What to listen to

Born in Bergen, dvard Grieg has to be the obvious choice for classical music: Peer Gynt evokes the landscape, the lively orchestrated version of the Holberg Suite can only lift the spirits, and his Piano Concerto remains one of his most popular works.

The 1965 Beatles song that introduced the sitar into popular music, Norwegian Wood, refers not to Norway but the then current vogue for pine decoration.

What to watch

The Hardangerjøkulen glacier near Finse was used for the icy planet of the Hoth system on which Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back begins. Filming coincided with the worse storm in 50 years, with temperatures of –29ºC and 18ft of snow.

Bergen was the location for the first part of Nicolas Roeg’s 1990 comedy/fantasy The Witches, based on Roald Dahl’s book and starring Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling and Rowan Atkinson.